Idun's Apples
by Amaya Shinkuyoake
Summary: Idun feels guilty about Loki's condition in Midgard and decides to try to help him (spoilers for the end of the TV series)


Idun's Apples

In the fertile fields of Asgard, Idun sang softly as she tended her orchard, but there was an undercurrent of melancholy in the tune, and Bragi, ever attentive to his wife's moods, was all too aware of it.  In the orchard it was spring, the trees were just budding out, and yet Idun was acting like she did in winter.  Bragi didn't like seeing his wife sad, especially when he knew the cause of her sadness, but he was a _scop_, not a fighter, what could he hope to do to revenge her hurt?  He came up softly behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her soft body back into his and tucking her head under his chin.

"I'm sorry Love." he whispered into her hair.

Idun turned to bury her face in her husband's shoulder.  "If I had known what Odin planned..."

"There is little you could have done even had you known.  He is the Allfadder, after all.  Although I do feel a strong urge to write some satire coming on."

Idun gasped and looked up at him.  "Bragi, don't!  I don't want to loose you too!  I just wish there was something I could do for poor Loki...and Heimdall too."

"Why don't you go talk to Frigg, she might have some idea."

"You're right.  I saw her face when she heard what he'd done, and she didn't exactly look pleased."

"If anyone can act with impunity it's Frigg." Bragi said with a smile.

Idun didn't go to Frigg right away, she decided it would be better to bide a little while and let Odin think she had accepted her role in his punishment of Loki as inevitable.  The apples had been pollinated and the blossoms were beginning to fall, and both Freya and Freyr had been sent to Midgard as well, before she made her first move.  She sent one of her handmaidens with a missive to Frigg, asking to call upon her at the Aesir's convenience.  Idun was actually a little surprised at how quickly she received her response, and only a couple of days later she was seated in comfort on the soft furs in Frigg's own bedchamber.

"I would ask you why you wanted to see me, but I think I have a fairly good idea." Frigg smiled kindly at her.  "It has to do with my husband's misuse of your apples, does it not?"

"Yes, it does.  I... I just can't let this _go_, Frigg!  I know it's not my fault that Odin trapped both Loki and Heimdall in their own youth, but he used my apples to do it.  I feel like I owe blood-debt to both of them for the loss of their true forms, and I wish I knew what I could do to repay it."

"I know how you feel, although you should not take the blame for Heimdall - he chose that form freely, I'll have you know.  I have tried once or twice to reason with Odin, but he is so _fixated_ with Ragnarok...  And he won't listen when I try to point out that he is only hastening war by alienating Loki and trying to kill him." Frigg sighed.  "Males."

" 'Males' indeed." Idun agreed.  "Even my Bragi refuses to listen to me when I try to give him advice, and he's better than most!"

"I have just thought of a wonderful idea." Frigg said, "Why don't we do a little spying and see if we can't see some way to help poor Loki.  The Norns never mind if I borrow their equipment."

Urda, Verdandi and Skuld were more than willing to share their Midgard-spying cameras with the other two Goddesses, especially when they explained that they wanted to watch Loki.  They didn't, for safety's sake, explain just why it was they wanted to watch him - better not to be seen as actively defying Odin, after all - and the Norns themselves had been having so much fun watching that they assumed it was just for entertainment.  

They watched with great delight as Thor went from one bit job to another, struggling to make ends meet, ("Maybe he will finally learn a little humility." Frigg smiled) and they giggled at Freyr and his antics, but in general they were saddened by Loki's obvious loneliness which only seemed to increase as time went on.

"You can't imagine," Idun said to her husband one night that summer as the apples were beginning to swell on the boughs, after the Norns had been sent down to Midgard by Odin, "how sad it is to watch him trapped down there and know there's nothing I can do to help him.  I know all too well how it feels to be a captive..."

"And don't think I've forgotten who returned you to me at that time.  If there was anything I thought I could do..." Bragi sighed.

The apples were beginning to ripen and turn a lovely translucent pink-gold, but Idun wasn't wandering her orchard, she was watching, along with Frigg and, by now, Bragi as well, as things came to a head for Loki when Hel came looking for her "delinquent" father.

"He's really quite fond of that girl, isn't he?" Frigg observed as she watched Loki worry over Mayura.

"For fair of form and face   Men may muster much," Bragi laughed.  "but I think you're right, even if he doesn't realize it himself."

"I think she would be good for him.  She seems to keep him busy, in any case." Idun giggled.  Then she sighed.  "You know, I never thought I'd find myself feeling sorry for Hel, but I do.  It's not nice to hurt a girl like that and make her doubt her worth in her father's eyes."

Idun and Frigg cried on each other's shoulders when Hel had to return to Niflheim, and when Loki received his charm from Verdandi to wipe Mayura's memory, the two Goddesses had to physically restrain Bragi from "going down there and talking some sense into that lout!"  It was a great relief to all of them when he decided to stay, and when she saw the look on Mayura's face, Idun knew just what to do to repay her debt to Loki.  She discussed her Idea with Bragi and Frigg, and both agreed with her that it was the best solution.

"And perfect timing, too!" Idun practically glowed.

When Yamino answered the doorbell on the morning after they had all decided to stay in Midgard, he was expecting one of his mail-order purchases, or perhaps even a client.  He was not, however, expecting a basket on the front steps with no one in sight.  It contained something wrapped in fine white linen with a note pinned to the top, written in runes.

'For Loki' it said.

Yamino decided better to bring Loki to it, than bring something potentially dangerous into the house, so in short order Loki himself was on the front step to investigate.  It didn't feel like anything from Odin.  In fact, it felt more like...

He opened the card.

"Please accept this gift as an apology for allowing Odin to use my apples against you, in the spirit of my release from captivity.  Idun." he read out loud.

"What would Idun be sending me?" he wondered quietly as he folded back the cloth.  Inside were three blush-gold apples, fully ripe and looking delicious, and a small note. 

'For Mayura' 

And now for the mythological reverences…  

Bragi is the god of poetry, counted as one of Odin's sons (although not one of Frigg's) and his wife Idun is the one who tends the orchard which grows the apples that keep the Gods for aging.  She was captured by one of the Jotun at some point and Loki was the one who got her back before all the Gods turned into doddering old fogies ^_~

Frigg is Odin's wife, and the goddess of the home (? I think, correct me if this is wrong please)

Scop is the Old Norse word for Poet

I think that's all the major stuff that might have been too obscure ^_^

Amaya the birthday kitsune (who got a bunch of Niberlungen for her b-day today…YAY!  Love Wagner!)


End file.
